5 on Friday

I'm so behind, but there's so many Marino moments I don't want to forget. Here's 5 of the latest reasons I'm loving my boy: 

5. A couple weeks ago, we went to the beach.  That night, Marino was eating shrimp for dinner. Evan was peeling them for him and handing them over. Marino said, "This is the good life."

4.  Also at the beach:  we had the perfect weather day and we spent 5 hours in the ocean. At one point Marino looked at me and said, "Mommy, the ocean made you look like a freak. It's mostly the hair."

3. Marino loves his brother so much. He came to visit for two weeks and Marino was so happy.  He's so proud of him and always introducing him to everyone, "This is my brother, Quintyn. He's 14 years old!"

4. At Marino's summer camp, the kids get a green band for their legs when they're able to swim the length of the pool without stopping. This means they get to go in the deep end and use the water slides. Marino has been wanting a green band since he went to camp last June. The other night I got home and he said, "Mommy, this is going to be a surprise for you" and held out his leg with a green band! I was so happy I teared up. Later he said "Mommy, I never knew you would be this excited about my green band. I knew you would be a little excited, but not like this!"

5.  Speaking of camp, twice a summer, Marino's camp has each group put on a performance for the parents. The first performance was last month...watch below. The end is the best part.

Ocean City, MD

On unique thing about our little family is that we all have birthdays within a few days of each other. This year, instead of giving each other gifts, we decided to take a mini-vacation to Ocean City. We booked 2 nights at the Francis Scott Key Family Resort, which is about a mile from the shore. What a great place! It was affordable, the staff were all incredibly friendly and helpful and the amenities for kids were wonderful! They have a pirate ship splash playground, an awesome indoor pool, an outdoor pool, mini-golf, nightly movies and popcorn for the kids, an arcade, a fishing pond and a shuttle to the beach. We definitely didn't have time to do all we wanted in 2 days, but we had a great time.

Our first stop was Grotto's Pizza to get gluten-free pizza for my birthday. Yum!
How handsome are my boys?

After an afternoon at the beach, we headed to Layton's on 92nd for gluten-free chocolate chip pancakes for my birthday dinner. They were amazing!!

Birthday hugs from my favorite boy

Marino was loving this pirate in the lobby of Layton's

It was HOT all weekend (around 100 degrees) but we still enjoyed the beach. Marino got some great new beach toys for his birthday and we enjoyed trying them all!

Waiting for the beach shuttle

Fun times with Daddy in the water

Crabby boy

Fun at the splash playground

Hanging out in hotel room

On our second night there, we met up with my Aunt Kerry (who was in OC visiting a friend) and had dinner at Hooper's Crabhouse. I wasn't a big fan of the place, but I don't eat crabs (I'm allergic)...Evan and Kerry said the food was good. We spent some time trying to convince Marino to try the crab but he refused.

We were sad to leave but we're excited for our next trip to the beach!

Myrtle Beach

The week before last, Marino and I headed down to Myrtle Beach. We had planned a trip with Jen and the kids but they have some difficult things their family is dealing with right now and couldn't make it. We missed them! But they very generously let us stay at their family's condo, which is just amazing. The resort where the condo is located is so beautiful and quiet. It's really just so peaceful there...you never even hear people talking unless you go to the pool (which is always stocked with playmates for the kids).

I don't have a ton of pictures from our trip (by my standards at least), since we spent most of our days in the water (pool and beach).

On Saturday, my friend Chandra and her daughter Hannah were able to come up from Atlanta and visit with us. Chandra and I worked together for several years in Atlanta and we hadn't seen each other since we both had babies (just a few months apart). It was great to see her and meet the adorable Hannah!

We had a rainy day on Saturday, so after swimming in the pool (in the rain), we headed over to Broadway and let the kids go crazy on the rides.

Marino riding the train with Chandra and Hannah.
Can you tell he liked this train ride?!


In this picture, he's showing me the "awesome" palm tree "with spikes on it".

Sunday was the perfect beach day. We went out early in the morning before the crowds and enjoyed the waves.
...and the sand



Marino kept telling me "the waves are kicking me!"


It was super humid (the whole time we were in SC). My camera lens kept fogging up!
Marino loved the tide pools.

Another early morning on the beach (our last day). Marino loved having so much sand to play in!
Most of our vacation it was just Marino and I and it was a good bonding experience.

He's good company!

Unfortunately, we both ended up with a cold shortly after we got there. This triggered Marino's asthma, and we ended up needing to go to the ER briefly because he was having chest retractions. I knew he just needed oral steroids, but it wasn't like I could just pop over to the pediatrician. The ER gave him a double dose of prednisone and a breathing treatment and by the middle of that night, he was breathing much easier.

Brothers

The weekend before last, Marino met his brother, Quintyn for the first time. Quintyn, my stepson, is 11 and lives in Iowa. I was initially concerned that Marino would be confused by the concept of having a brother, or not understand the importance of this family member. Those fears were unfounded. He seemed to intrinsically know that Quintyn was special and to be his best friend.

This picture was taken just a couple hours after Quintyn arrived.

Evan and his 2 boys.

Quintyn has a baby brother (11 months old) so he has big brother experience. For the most part, he is excellent with Marino, although at times he expects Marino to play on his level instead of vice versa (I heard them playing upstairs the other day and Quintyn saying "No, Marino. You need to come up with your own battle plan!") They definitely can get on each other's nerves, as brothers do, but for the most part, they are as thick as thieves.

On Sunday, we picked up my cousin Samantha and headed to North Beach. It was super hot (about 100 degrees) but that meant the water was warm and the beach wasn't packed. Marino has gotten significantly more brave in the water this year and was willingly dunking his head in the water and "swimming" around. Prior years he would cling to us like a spider monkey but he was "swimming" away from us on this excursion.

We saw some cool stuff on the beach - lots of (dead) crabs (all the better to pick up!) and when we first arrived, a man put in our sand bucket a small minnow he had caught. As an aside, I wanted to mention how amazing being a parent is...it connects you to so many different people...the love we feel for our children is universal. This man didn't speak English, but he knew this fish would make Quintyn and Marino happy, so he silently came over and gave it to them. The boys had lots of fun with it until I had mercy on it and let it go after Marino repeatedly picked the poor thing up.

We had a great time! Lots more brother adventures coming soon!